Kip Harkrider was a shortstop who helped the USA win a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Harkrider played in college at the University of Texas and was drafted in the fifth round of the 1997 MLB draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Harkrider never made the bigs but played in the minor leagues from 1997-2007. He advanced as far as Double-A, playing with the San Antonio Missions in 1998 and 2000. His career was interrupted several times by injuries in 1999, 2001-02, and 2004.
Harkrider came back to the minors in 2003, playing in independent leagues for the rest of his career. In 2003 he played with the Alexandria Aces of the Central Baseball League (CBL). In 2005 he played with the Edinburg Roadrunners of the CBL, batting .347 for the year, which would have placed him second in the league in batting, but he did not have enough appearances to qualify for the batting title. Harkrider finishing his career with two seasons with the Fort Worth Cats of the American Association, another independent league.
United States